The Ugly Face of Anti-Israel Protesters

On Tuesday, Anti-Israel activists disrupted a talk by MK (Minister of the Knesset) Aliza Lavie at Humboldt University in Berlin, in what appears to be a second antisemitic attack at one of Germany’s most famous educational institutions. Those present said that the provocation was staged and planned in advance in order to discredit Israel and prevent the Israeli representatives from speaking. The event was held in the framework of a visit by a delegation of young people from an Israeli political party in Berlin and Frankfurt, led by MK Aliza Lavie. The delegation aimed to promote information activities among students on leading campuses in Germany, and to hold a series of meetings with members of parliament, representatives of the Jewish community, students, and public opinion leaders.

“The blood of the Gaza Strip is on your hands” and “Child murderer” were some of the insults and profanity that the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) activists flung at the visiting Israeli Knesset member.

In response to the protesters, Lavie said “this is the ugly face of the boycott industry and the BDS movement. They are not fighting for peace or rights, but against the right of the Jewish people to a national home in the State of Israel. It saddens me that Deborah, a Holocaust survivor, should have witnessed this shameful spectacle.”

Another participant of the delegation to Germany was Devorah Weinstein, an 82 year old Holocaust survivor. The delegation had just visited the monument in the library square of the university, where in 1933 German students and lecturers burned tens of thousands of books of Jews and opponents of the Nazi regime. In a display of moral courage and defiance of the BDS movement, Weinstein said, “they came in advance to destroy and spoil, but it will not help them. Our work is completed. Many people, even those who were not for us, came, listened and asked questions, and wanted to hear us. I am sorry for that group of violent rioters, but I am not afraid and I will continue with this work.”